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Newfoundland Not Looking To Join Canadian Online Gambling Party

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Canadian provinces have been lining up behind British Columbia to be the next area that enters the online gambling market. Newfoundland, according to Premiere Danny Williams, will not be part of that expansion.

British Columbia started what looks to be major Internet gambling expansion in North America when they launched PlayNow.com, an online casino that is being run by the B.C. Lottery Corp. The gaming site offers traditional games that can be found in land-based casinos.

While the idea looks good to many provinces as a way to generate revenue, Williams believes that Newfoundland already creates enough revenue through the sale of tobacco and alcohol. Other provinces estimate that millions of dollars in revenue could be generated each year.

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation has alerted the provinces where they operate gambling that upwards of $50 million annually could be generated by adding the online gambling. Williams, however, does not believe that enough lawmakers support the idea to bring the form of gaming to Newfoundland.

“Several of the other provinces that are looking into online gambling options have to find additional revenue to help balance their budgets,” said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. “Luckily, Newfoundland is not in that position, and it is likely that until they need extra revenue, their legislators will not expand gambling.”

The B.C. Lottery Corp. relaunched its PlayNow.com site this past week. The site had been shut down just hours after it was launched because of a security breach. Hundreds of residents who signed up to play had their information available to other players. The B.C. government blamed the breach on the software, and they corrected the problem before the re-launch this week.